Is The Wire any good really? (full of spoilers btw!)

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Yeah it is, that was a great scene. So sad seeing the young lad whose name I'm forgetting trying to escape the street but having no routes to do so. "Guess you just need to keep banging for a few years then come back and see if we've got anything".

It's Dukie isn't it. Yeah that's one of those scenes that really hits home, how young these kids are - just making it to the age where you might be able to get a regular job somewhere like a shoe shop is an achievement.

 

[Sprocket.]

Slightly off topic. But whilst watching the latest and last series of Bosch on Amazon last week, the character of Jerry Edgar, played by Jamie Hector (Marlo Stanfield in The Wire) Bosch’s detective partner, was told by another detective, that a woman involved in the case they were working was like Stringer Bell in The Wire.
Straight faced Jamie Hector replied “yeah, I binged that”

 

[Buddy Bradley]

Brody. Killed by his "successor" Michael

Bodie. That scene where he is killed is a callback to the chess board scene in S1 - the three that attack him move like different chess pieces.

 

[BigTom]

Brody. Killed by his "successor" Michael

No, as Monkeygrinder's Organ said - it was Dukie who went to the shop, and became the new bubbles in the end as we saw him shooting up in the stables - the only place that would take him in.

Michael became the new Omar rather than Bodie and I can't remenber if it was Michael, Snoop or Chris who did the actual shooting.

I think it was Naymond (Wee bay's kid) who should have become the new Bodie but wasn't streetwise enough. He got saved by Bunny Colvin - an ongoing theme that the system will fail the people it's meant to help and only by going outside the system can someone be saved - Randy got fucked by the system and you saw Carver trying to save him but not being able to go outside of the system to do it.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Michael became the new Omar rather than Bodie and I can't remenber if it was Michael, Snoop or Chris who did the actual shooting.

It was one of the other younger trainee 'muscle' types wasn't it? Because Michael knew Bodie and the first time had to be someone he didn't know.

 

[Buddy Bradley]

It was one of the other younger trainee 'muscle' types wasn't it? Because Michael knew Bodie and the first time had to be someone he didn't know.

No, it was Michael that killed Bodie as part of the training he was doing under Chris and Snoop.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I think it was Naymond (Wee bay's kid) who should have become the new Bodie but wasn't streetwise enough. He got saved by Bunny Colvin - an ongoing theme that the system will fail the people it's meant to help and only by going outside the system can someone be saved - Randy got fucked by the system and you saw Carver trying to save him but not being able to go outside of the system to do it.

My interpretation of that was always that it was one of Simon's more heavy handed (although important) points. That with a little bit of care and support the kids would be fine. Namond has to be the one 'saved' because he's the worst at the beginning - his dad is a multiple killer, his mum is a nightmare, and he's the one who ends up the dysfunctional class. So if it can happen to him it could be any of them given the opportunity.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

No, it was Michael that killed Bodie as part of the training he was doing under Chris and Snoop.

Nope, just checked and it was a character called O-Dog - he's also in the ambush on Omar in Season 5.

 

[BigTom]

My interpretation of that was always that it was one of Simon's more heavy handed (although important) points. That with a little bit of care and support the kids would be fine. Namond has to be the one 'saved' because he's the worst at the beginning - his dad is a multiple killer, his mum is a nightmare, and he's the one who ends up the dysfunctional class. So if it can happen to him it could be any of them given the opportunity.

I think that's true as well, but you see systems failing people all over the place - the group homes and school do not serve the children's needs well (the foster mother does though, as an individual within the system). The police do not help the community with their war on drugs, bunny colvin goes outside the system to actually help the west side community. Politicians use the political system to line their own pockets and do not help the dockers, instead of the grain pier we get some luxury flats because it looks good for Carcetti's run at governor, not because it helps the dockside community and that's because of the way the system is setup and how it drives people within it.

 

[BigTom]

Nope, just checked and it was a character called O-Dog - he's also in the ambush on Omar in Season 5.

That's interesting - I remember the scene with Chris and Marlo and Chris saying it shouldn't be Michael that kills Bodie but I thought Marlo disagreed and although you barely see him in that clip I thought that was Michael and it was part of the reason he got turned off Marlo's crew and decided to go out on his own.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I think that's true as well, but you see systems failing people all over the place - the group homes and school do not serve the children's needs well (the foster mother does though, as an individual within the system). The police do not help the community with their war on drugs, bunny colvin goes outside the system to actually help the west side community. Politicians use the political system to line their own pockets and do not help the dockers, instead of the grain pier we get some luxury flats because it looks good for Carcetti's run at governor, not because it helps the dockside community and that's because of the way the system is setup and how it drives people within it.

Yes definitely - the failure of the systems is the key message of the whole thing isn't it. It's in everything about the programme. That's what I mean about Namond being saved by Colvin specifically though. In line with the rest of the show and that theme the obvious ending for him would be to end up being shot or in a gang wouldn't it? And that would probably be more in keeping with the realistic feel of the show, after all how often does something like that really happen? Which is why it does feel a bit heavy handed, but it's there to make the point that it could happen more than that it does.

 

[BristolEcho]

We're due a second run at this having watched it around 4 years ago for the first time.

 

[mhendo]

Brody. Killed by his "successor" Michael

Bodie. And he wasn't actually killed by Michael. Marlo was going to get Michael to do it, but then decided that Michael's first kill should not be someone that he knew and worked with. Bodie was killed by O-Dog, another one of Marlo's people.

Also, Michael wasn't really Bodie's successor, because he didn't end up on the corner; Michael finished the series robbing drug dealers, making him more like Omar's successor.

 

[paul mckenna]

Bodie. And he wasn't actually killed by Michael. Marlo was going to get Michael to do it, but then decided that Michael's first kill should not be someone that he knew and worked with. Bodie was killed by O-Dog, another one of Marlo's people.

Also, Michael wasn't really Bodie's successor, because he didn't end up on the corner; Michael finished the series robbing drug dealers, making him more like Omar's successor.

Yes you (all) are correct. I fucked up ok?

 

[Steel Icarus]

YouTube comments under clips of The Wire are among the most insightful on the site, would you believe. Little gems like the chessboard scene explaining the pawns rarely get to the other side but the series has Slim Charles doing just that - a very real exception.

It really is up there with the best telly tbh.

 

[paul mckenna]

Youtube comments have been cleaned up a crazy amount generally. Dunno if it's down to tech or a demographic shift

 

[Chilli.s]

Bodie. And he wasn't actually killed by Michael. Marlo was going to get Michael to do it, but then decided that Michael's first kill should not be someone that he knew and worked with. Bodie was killed by O-Dog, another one of Marlo's people.

Also, Michael wasn't really Bodie's successor, because he didn't end up on the corner; Michael finished the series robbing drug dealers, making him more like Omar's successor.

I thought it was Michael too, but it seems you are right. That series is hard to get through on a second or more viewing, the relentless disappointments for the young is tough.

 

[paul mckenna]

I thought it was Michael too, but it seems you are right. That series is hard to get through on a second or more viewing, the relentless disappointments for the young is tough.

Skipping school and dropping bodies. Sounds alright to me

 

[Riklet]

Rewatched the whole thing 2 years ago.

Season 2 and season 4 man. The best you can get.

 

[paul mckenna]

Rewatched the whole thing 2 years ago.

Season 2 and season 4 man. The best you can get.

Totally. It makes you think that the leading man/woman in the show as a whole is Baltimore. That's gotta be the first show that did such an about-face, especially so early

 

[rubbershoes]

I thought it was Michael too, but it seems you are right. That series is hard to get through on a second or more viewing, the relentless disappointments for the young is tough.

I found subsequent viewings easier. You know the shit that's going to happen and so aren't tied up in the plot. You can revel in the superb writing, the comments and actions by a character that come back and bite them or come to glory a few series later

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

BTW if you really want to nerd it up I enjoyed this podcast last year: Introducing ‘The Wire: Way Down in the Hole’

The two presenters are both from sports broadcasting backgrounds so you need a high tolerance for basketball references but otherwise it's really good.